Work vehicles having loader arms, such as skid steer loaders, telescopic handlers, wheel loaders, backhoe loaders, forklifts, compact track loaders and the like, are a mainstay of construction work and industry. For example, skid steer loaders typically include a pair of loader arms pivotally coupled to the vehicle's chassis that can be raised and lowered at the operator's command. The loader arms typically have an implement attached to their end, thereby allowing the implement to be moved relative to the ground as the loader arms are raised and lowered. For example, a bucket is often coupled to the loader arm, which allows the skid steer loader to be used to carry supplies or particulate matter, such as gravel, sand, or dirt, around a worksite.
When using a work vehicle to perform a material moving operation or any other suitable operation, it is often desirable to maintain the vehicle's bucket or other implement at a constant angular position relative to the vehicle's driving surface (or relative any other suitable reference point or location) as the loader arms are being raised and/or lowered. To achieve such control, conventional work vehicles typically rely on the operator manually adjusting the position of the implement as the loader arms are being moved. Unfortunately, this task is often quite challenging for the operator and can lead to materials being inadvertently dumped from the implement. To solve this problem, control systems have been described that attempt to provide a control algorithm, for automatically maintaining a constant angular implement position as the vehicle's loader arms are being moved. However, such previously disclosed automatic control systems still suffer from many drawbacks, including poor system responsiveness and imprecise implement position control.
Accordingly, an improved system and method for automatically adjusting the position of an implement of a work vehicle so as to maintain the implement at a desired angular orientation relative to a given reference point would be welcomed in the technology.